moral compass

noun

plural moral compasses

: a set of beliefs or values that help guide ethical decisions, judgments, and behavior : an internal sense of right and wrong

Mr. Mandela was unique. How often in a generation does a giant walk among us, with brilliance and courage, guided by an immaculate moral compass?

—Tayari Jones

There are common causes for lapses in ethical judgment that can include ego, power, greed, fear, compulsion, embarrassment, rationalization, or basic lack of a moral compass.

—Kevin Woodhouse

Women who work hard to make businesses and communities better and help set our moral compasses with their actions are my heroes.

—Edie Boan

also : someone or something that serves as a standard for guiding moral choices, judgments, or behavior

Here was the lead character, the show's moral compass, played by its best-known actor—and this is what happens to him?

—Kristi Turnquist

In his role as manager of Changes Group Home in New London, Henderson serves as a moral compass for young men who need direction.

—Tim Frogerg

Examples of moral compass in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Second, its tactless characters provided a useful moral compass. —Karla Miller, Washington Post, 28 Mar. 2024

Gladstone is the movie’s center and moral compass playing opposite De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio as her love interest, Ernest. —Karen Heller, Washington Post, 21 Feb. 2024

Jackman perfectly encapsulates the desperate father racing against time, raging against a flawed justice system, and struggling with whether to prioritize his desperation or moral compass. —EW.com, 18 Jan. 2024

The camera goes where society’s general consciousness, and its moral compass, do not. —Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 Feb. 2024

Doren Thali, a former elementary school teacher and longtime friend of Ingram’s family, said Ingram had a strong moral compass. —James Hartley, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Jan. 2024

Kirkwood writes sturdy, elegant, feminist plays with a sharp moral compass and a fascination with science, history, and societal complicity. —Sara Holdren, Vulture, 4 Jan. 2024

About a guy who doesn’t say much, has a bit of a squint, a questionable moral compass, gets the girl and rides out of town at the end. —Angelique Jackson, Variety, 20 Dec. 2023

Related: Specialized centers can help realign the U.S.’s moral compass for sickle cell disease Many of us living with sickle cell have learned to live with the disease. —Jennifer Fields, STAT, 8 Dec. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1814, in the meaning defined above